This issue, Batman vs. Foulmouth.

If I find a $7.99 book in the dollar bin, I kinda have to buy it, right? And I bought a few of this series! Did I buy enough to read a whole serial...well, that remains to be seen. From 2023, Batman: the Brave and the Bold #1. Cover by Simone Di Meo.

When is a team-up book not a team-up book? When it's an anthology title like this one, I guess. The opener was...sigh...yet another Batman "Year One" story, with Batman seemingly reeeeeeally considering letting a rather potty-mouthed wife-murderer get run over by a train; while a lost little girl is kept company in the rain...by the Joker. The Joker doesn't get word balloons in this one, but instead his speech is conveyed through silent movie-style dialogue cards. Which, kind of feels pretentious? And eats up like a splash page and 18 separate panels? I'm a little down on writer Tom King of late, so I might be too hard on him; but the Mitch Gerads art and in particular the Clayton Cowles lettering are on point; and it is a suitably gloomy start. (I don't know which designed the intertitles, though.) I also wonder, is there a database somewhere of "Year One" stories? Every year feels like twelve lately, maybe seeing that would put things in perspective. Or not. (Per the GCD, this is a retelling of the first Joker story, from Batman #1.) 

 Next, is it still a Stormwatch if they only have like two Stormwatch guys? Also, it's mentioned they would be less focused on extraterrestrial threats and more so on domestic ones; which differentiates them from the Suicide Squad how? I'm not sure anybody wants to be there. I guess they're in a satellite rather than a prison...New director Mr. Bones takes over, although holdovers Winter and Flint are still there, as the team's "Weatherman" and field leader, respectively. Most of the rest of the team appeared to be either disposable like Peacekeeper-01 (not the guy with the helmet!) or Phantom-1, or long-time characters that didn't seem to have a home now, like Ravager and Shado. The team is deployed to recover an evil scientist, which it does, barely, after a time-acceleration field nearly destroys Iron Heights. And Mr. Bones gets a call from his bosses, who threaten to terminate all of them if they don't work out...("Down with the Kings, part 1" Written by Ed Brisson, art by Jeff Spokes.)

Then, I was surprised to find a Superman story! A full Superman story, for that matter; I remember when Action Comics Weekly used to have the 2-page strips. I don't remember if super-memory is still a power, though? I feel like sometimes, maybe in later stories, but Clark doesn't maybe have super-recall over his entire life: he can't recollect the name of a childhood sweetheart from camp, but later receives a decoder ring like he had as a kid, with a note: "Save me!" Also, this was tied to then-current continuity, with Lois as acting chief of the Daily Planet; she admits to Clark that readership numbers were dire. ("Order of the Black Lamp, part 1" Written by Christopher Cantwell, art by Javier Rodriguez.)

Finally, and almost worth the full price of admission: Dan Mora does a little one-off, that is very much Batman Kamen Rider. Nothing wrong with that! ("Heroes of Tomorrow" Story and art by Dan Mora.)